A Tiny Bit of Sewing

I finally pulled out my Japanese stash and a Yoko Saito pattern and made this cute little zippered pouch. This is entirely hand sewn, including inserting the zipper. Above is the front.

And here is the back. I even covered the cording by hand.

And yesterday I made this little block, another Yoko Saito pattern. Yes, the pieces are supposed to be wonky. The block was supposed to finish at 3 inches square - a bit too tiny for me. I enlarged it to 4.5 inches square. I think I could even enlarge it more. It's very small! Again, this is hand sewn. 

The pattern calls for these blocks to be made into the flap of a purse, but that's not what I'll be using them for. 

 So how am I doing? I feel great! I ended up getting one more expander fill and now I'm done with that. I don't go back to the doctor until April (Yay!) when we'll set up the next surgery.

My biggest problem now is sleeping. The expanders are rock hard and I find it difficult to get comfortable in bed. Yes, I'm back in a bed again for about the last week. But I'm sleeping in the guest bedroom, smack in the middle of the queen sized bed. I have SO many various pillows to help me get comfortable. Hubby would never fit beside me - haha! It's very UNcomfortable to sleep on my side. So I struggle every night to get comfy and relaxed. Some nights I sleep well. Some nights I don't. I never knew about this issue after breast surgery!

I don't plan ahead for many activities because I never know if I'll be exhausted or not. If I'm exhausted, I take a long nap the next day. I don't feel guilty saying no to invites or anything else - I do what I want to do, when I want to do it.

One of my friends who has had breast cancer (twice!) gave me some good advice the day I was diagnosed. BE SELFISH. And she didn't mean to be rude, ungrateful, or self centered. She meant that I should do what I need to do to take care of myself. I should surround myself with positive people. I should not invite stress into my home. I should start thinking of myself first more than in the past. And that's exactly what I'm doing.

I've been driving again for about a week or so. I've been shopping on my own a couple of times. I'm getting back into walking. We're going out to eat, going to AU gymnastics meets, getting back into the swing of 'normal' life. And that is so nice.

I've learned to focus on the simple things like coffee with friends and watching TV with Hubby. I know I'm not blogging much...I'm slowing down on this too. And will probably continue to do so. I'm not sure if the blog will die a slow death or not. We'll will see.